


Artefacts recovered from a villa in Herculaneum

by neutrondecay



Series: Fic from the Draft Game [2]
Category: 1st Century CE RPF, I Claudius, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Ancient Egypt, Avengers - Freeform, Crossover, Draft Game, Druids, Gen, Latin, Mary Gentle style, Poetry, Roman Empire, Wakanda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:05:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8461192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neutrondecay/pseuds/neutrondecay
Summary: A newly-discovered cache of documents and works of art from 1st century CE Italy reveals an untold story of heroism during the early Roman Empire's darkest days.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for a Draft Game (see the opening entry in the series) entitled 'Avengers New Multiverse'. All the fictional characters are therefore taken from the Marvel universe, and each alias goes with a character it's normally associated with, but the setting is quite different.

In 2013, excavations on the outskirts of Herculaneum revealed a previously undiscovered villa. Parts of it had been badly damaged by the mudslides of 79 AD which destroyed the town; but several inner rooms were largely untouched, including two large dining rooms (triclinia) and a personal office (tablinum). Several fine works of art were recovered from the dining areas, including some depicting unrecognised mythological scenes. These were partially explained by a well-preserved collection of letters found in a wooden case in the tablinum. These letters, on wooden writing tablets, resemble in form those found at Vindolanda in 1973; however, the content is rather more dramatic than the domestic correspondence of frontier soldiers, as the following excerpts will show.

'Heroic Tablets', item 23:

> TSALLA VACANDAE MONICAE SPECTRI SPD
> 
> SVGEVR
> 
> AMICA IMPERATOR MULTIS MALIS PATITUR. IS UXORQUE SAEPE IURGANT. BRITANNICUS COMES MEUS IUVENIOR SAEPE IURGIIS PATRIS NOVERCAEQUE LACRIMAT...

(The rest of the tablet is less well-preserved, but was eventually deciphered using the digital infrared camera assembly developed by NASA for use on texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls.)

The name 'Vacanda' in the incipit was originally taken to be a Latin word meaning 'a place that is to be emptied', but on examination of the completed text, it was determined to be a proper name, that of the African kingdom of Wakanda. On that basis, the name 'Tsalla' was transliterated as 'T'Challa', in keeping with modern Wakandan orthography. The translation is as follows:

> T'Challa of Wakanda to Monica of the Image, many greetings.
> 
> If you are well, I rejoice; I myself am very well.
> 
> My friend, the Emperor suffers many ills. He and his wife argue often; my young colleague Britannicus is often in tears at how his father and stepmother feud. Prince Nero sides entirely with his mother, of course, and does much to torment his stepbrother. I fear that we are all in for a rough time if the Emperor does not recover his fleeting wits.
> 
> I have no news from my father, nor from any of the further part of Africa. Please tell me if you receive any word from your relatives in Tripolitania about Wakanda. My presence here has, I fear, become a burden to the imperial family. The Emperor still protects us, but I fear he does not feel as benevolently towards foreign princes in Rome since the death of Herod Agrippa.
> 
> Today I unpacked the armour with the panther's head, which I brought with me from my homeland at my father's insistence. I cannot perform marvels as you can, esteemed friend, but perhaps I may yet have an opportunity to do some good in this troubled city.
> 
> I look forward eagerly to our next meeting.
> 
> May the gods guard your safety!

The name 'Monica of the Image' (Monica Spectri) is that of another correspondent whose writings appear in the collection. She seems to be a Carthaginian seeress of some sort, and has been tentatively identified with a transfigured African woman in one of the mythic wall-paintings from the villa.

Heroic Tablets, item 27:

> MONICA SPECTRI TSALLAE VACANDAE SMD
> 
> SVBEEV
> 
> AMICE CARE CONSCIO UT IMPERATOR MORIAR...

(The rest of the tablet is fragmentary; some of the following reconstruction depends on the use of obscure terms which occur more clearly in later letters in the sequence.)

> Monica of the Spectrum to T'Challa of Wakanda, many greetings.
> 
> If you are well, that is well; I am well.
> 
> My dear friend, I know for sure that the Emperor is dying. I share your concerns and fears about the cause of his decline, although he is not a young man, and has suffered much in the past. Be on your guard against young Nero - I hear nothing reassuring concerning him. Give my blessing to Britannicus; to lose his father while still a youth will surely go hard with him.
> 
> I am sending you some help, which you may need in the coming months. If you can get out of the palace, go to the inn at the sign of the speared boar at the foot of the Aventine. Mention my name to the innkeeper. He will lead you to an auxiliary officer - his name is Palestinian, but he is a Nubian - his name is R Iacombus Rhodi, and he has two devices with him which will serve you well. One is a battle array that Rhodi himself wears, which he calls the War Machine. It is capable of hurling arrows and sling-stones at the wearer's direction, and has wings like a bat, so that he may leap from roof to roof among the tower-blocks in the city. The other is a fantastical abacus, operated by a mute slave who rides in it, and is able to converse by causing it to write. The device is called MODOC (Machina Optime Designata Omnium Censurae - 'Machine Best Designed for Enumerating All Things'), and it is able to predict eclipses and conjunctions faster than the best Greek calculator, and to direct Rhodi's machine how best to direct its fire over great distances. If possible, we should arrange a safe house closer to the palace, and keep these good people there so that they may aid us in our time of need.
> 
> Take good care of yourself.

* * *

'Heroic Tablets', item 34:

> R Iacombus Rhodi to T'Challa of Wakanda, many greetings!
> 
> I trust that you are well; I am well too.
> 
> First, may I express my sorrow at the passing of the Divine Claudius? I know that he was not as close with you as he was with the previous generation of foreign princes here in Rome, but nonetheless, it is a grave loss. It seems that Nero, rather than Britannicus, will be the new emperor. I grant that Nero is older, and no less a member of the Imperial family than his stepbrother, but I should still like to see what the younger man is made of.
> 
> MODOC and I are well-established in the house you have provided. He has asked me not to mention his given name; he says that the name of MODOC is more fitting for him. If it is in accordance with your wishes, I should like to grant him his manumission. From what Monica has told us, it seems that we are to be partners together in a risky enterprise, and it would therefore be best if we were all free men and women. I, at least, am a Roman citizen, and would be happy to be his patron.
> 
> If it pleases you, there are two others who I wish to join this company. One is a former fellow-officer of mine, S Vilsonius Falco, who lives up to his cognomen as a falconer, but also possesses a gliding battle array similar to mine - less heavily-armed, but swifter. He is a good and virtuous man, and served alongside me on the Divine Claudius' expedition to Britannia. The other is a learned Briton whom we met in Camulodunum, although he is originally from the lands of the Catuvellauni. He worked for the Divine Claudius' freedman M Antonius Pallas, and took a Roman name from him: M Antonius Londinii, the Doctor of the Druids. He knows many secret magical ways, both of the Britons and the Latins, and has claimed in the past to be able to conjure up the heroes of old. I would not trust him in all things, but his loyalty and affection towards Pallas speaks well in this case; I commend him.
> 
> May all the gods guard your well-being, O prince!

* * *

'Heroic Tablets', Item 35:

> T'Challa to the company: Britannicus has been murdered. Move immediately to the catacombs.

* * *

Editor's note: Many letters in the collection which appear to date from early in Nero's reign are simply addressed to 'the Sign of the Fountain' - this appears to be a place used for correspondence by the group operating out of the catacombs.

* * *

'Heroic Tablets', Item 42:

> M Vilsonius Falco to the Sign of the Fountain, many greetings.
> 
> If you are all well, it is well; I am well.
> 
> I am currently in Massalia (Marseilles), where I have met our latest recruit. He is a mercenary swordsman, although he fights perhaps even better with no weapon. His name is Batrox the Gaul, nicknamed The Leaper, and true enough, he is capable of jumping to great heights unaided. He gives no particular explanation for this remarkable ability, but there is a rumour that, as a young boy, he fell into a druid's cauldron. I am acquainting Batrox with our business; in a few days we shall take ship for Ostia, and hope to be with you before the next Kalends.
> 
> May the gods favour your enterprise!

* * *

It appears to be this period in the group's activity which is depicted in one of the villa's wall paintings. It shows seven figures in heroic poses, with a stylised landscape of Rome's seven hills behind. From left to right, they are: a white man with large moustaches, wrapped in a travelling cloak and apparently jumping or flying (presumably Batrox); a man of uncertain features riding in a device resembling the ancient Chinese north-pointing chariot (presumably MODOC); an African man wearing black armour with metal plates and a panther's head, rather like those worn by some imperial standard-bearers (presumably T'Challa); an African woman wearing ceremonial robes (clearly Monica); two African men wearing legionary armour with bat-like wings attached behind (it is not clear which is Falco and which is Rhodi); and a white man wearing a simple white smock and carrying a sickle (presumably Londinii). A scroll painted at the foot of the image reads VINDICES MORTVI, which can be translated as 'the Justifiers of the Dead One' (perhaps Britannicus), or as 'The Dead Avengers'.

* * *

'Heroic Tablets', item 49:

> T'Challa of Wakanda to the Doctor Druid, greetings.
> 
> The four of us have been trailing the Imperial expedition up the Nile for weeks now. They had been approaching the great swamp (ie, the Sudd), and I was preparing to outflank them and alert my father if they should attempt to cross the swamp and enter Wakanda. But before they reached it, a group of their scouts led them to an abandoned temple. Falco and I watched and listened from a hiding-place as one of the scouts told the centurion that the temple was dedicated to Set, and that it might hold treasures which could be taken back to amuse Nero. We met with Monica and Rhodi close to our own encampment, and they gave us dire news. Monica told us that they had seen this same temple, and that it was not to Set, as had been claimed, but to a more ancient and more dreadful deity known as Dormammu. She maintained that it must not be disturbed. We raced to intercept the patrol, heedless of the risk to ourselves, but we were too late - a party of soldiers had already entered the lower part of the temple. I do not know what they found there, but the earth began to shake, and the temple collapsed in a shower of cinders. A terrible voice spoke words which I did not understand, and it was as though the earth itself was in pain. In the confusion, a group of fleeing soldiers stumbled upon our position.
> 
> We defeated them in short order, but we were already exposed. Monica called upon her powers then, and appeared to them as Minerva, ordering them to retreat. They were to tell no-one of the temple or what had happened there, but simply to tell their masters that the swamp was impassable. Once they were gone, she explained that the evil deity was now beginning to wake, and that we must seek all possible aid to drive it from the world. Its awakening may take months, or it may take years, but if we do not halt it, the world will be utterly undone.
> 
> May all the gods assist us!

* * *

'Heroic Tablets', Item 54:

> M Antonius Londinii to T'Challa, at the sign of the Hawk in Alexandria, greetings.
> 
> I hope you are better off than I.
> 
> Not content with the infamous murder of his mother, Nero is now arresting his courtiers. My own patron, Pallas, is among them, and I fear he may reveal my whereabouts. Your own news from Egypt is dire indeed. I am going to take Batrox and MODOC with me and leave Rome for a time. We are making for the island of Aeaea, home of the legendary Circe. I intend to conjure her spirit to assist us against the unspeakable terror that is now awakening. If you are able, please join me on the island, and let us confer there before attempting to return to the City.
> 
> May good winds follow you.

* * *

'Heroic Tablets', Item 56:

> To the so-called Avengers from Circe of Aeaea, hail!
> 
> I have your British magician and his two assistants here. You will be relieved to learn that I have not turned them into swine, although I was tempted. Nevertheless, they are detained here at my pleasure, and will remain so until you present yourselves with an explanation. The Briton tells me that the seeress Monica knows of this supposed malevolent god which the Romans have awakened. I will not believe it until I get a good explanation in person from someone with real understanding.

* * *

It seems that the entreaties of Monica were effective, because another wall painting, this time in the small dining room, depicts the 'Avengers' entering Rome, not as triumphant heroes but as footsore travellers, accompanied by a woman in a long robe carrying a staff with a boar's head. This individual is clearly intended to be Circe. In the background of the image, fire and smoke can be seen in the City itself.

* * *

Appended to the 'Heroic Tablets' collection is a badly damaged document which appears to be the confession of a condemned man. Although no name is attached, a reference to 'my brother Felix' implies that the (probably coerced) author of the confession is M Antonius Pallas, identified in the letters as the patron of M Antonius Londinii, the Doctor Druid. An extract follows:

> ...I further confess that I concealed from the Emperor a message from Felix in which he warned of a terrible new god rising in the East, whose coming was to be a great disaster for Rome. And I lied in order to conceal the whereabouts of the Prince of Africa and his companions who had sworn to avenge Britannicus. It was by my assistance that they unsuccessfully pursued the Emperor's glorious expedition to seek the source of the Nile. I will tell you where they have concealed themselves below the citadel...

* * *

Unfortunately, no single document furnishes a coherent account of what happened after the re-entry to Rome. A carved monument found in the rubble at the rear of the villa seems to have been erected by Londinii in memory of his patron, who was executed by Nero early in 64CE. A few fragments of letters deal with the group's continuing attempts to stay ahead of the emperor's spies following a raid on their base in the catacombs. And then it appears that all correspondence ceases. The only other document is a versified lament, apparently written by Monica Spectri, which provides an indication of the fates of several of her companions:

> From an unknown world of terror  
>  Came the dread one's soldiers burning  
>  Faceless, formless, fiery heralds  
>  House and shrine to ashes turning.
> 
> Then the servant of the engine  
>  Set the wise ones' course before them;  
>  Round the seven ancient summits  
>  Where the gods' devout implore them.
> 
> There they wove their secret magics  
>  As the fearsome host invaded,  
>  As in streets the fire grew swiftly  
>  Where Dormammu's troops paraded.
> 
> Then they struck, the bold companions  
>  Girt in panoply for battle;  
>  Struck at mindless foes from vantage  
>  Drove them back like fleeing cattle.
> 
> Yet the fire sprang up too harshly  
>  To the Falcon's rooftop eyrie,  
>  Trapped him on the blazing building,  
>  Where he fought till worn and weary.
> 
> Then he leaped and did his duty,  
>  Swore a soldier's fateful vow:  
>  “I shall die for world and city,  
>  Slaying those who face us now.”
> 
> When his dear companion perished,  
>  Rhodi stood and faced the foe,  
>  Cast them down with rocks and arrows,  
>  Smote the fiends and laid them low.
> 
> With him fought the Gaulish leaper,  
>  Brave and fierce and swift of sword.  
>  Batrox slew a dozen foemen,  
>  Cursing their infernal lord.
> 
> Downward ran the great Black Panther,  
>  Armed and armoured for the fight,  
>  Drove back many from the hilltops,  
>  Clad in armour black as night.
> 
> But the foe was still too many,  
>  Still they came and still they fought.  
>  Batrox fell and with him Rhodi,  
>  Precious time their blood had bought.
> 
> When the seventh hill was circled,  
>  When the rite was near complete,  
>  Came T'Challa to the Druid,  
>  Sore and sick and near defeat.
> 
> At his heels the dread ones followed,  
>  Tireless terrors, blazing bright.  
>  There with Circe and the Briton  
>  I was called to stand and fight.
> 
> All our spells could not avail us,  
>  Only time could save us then.  
>  All was gone, our power expended,  
>  Fallen three most worthy men.
> 
> While the warding spell was working  
>  We fell back without a choice,  
>  Till at once from right behind us,  
>  Came a shrill and eager voice:
> 
> “I am not the slave of knowledge,  
>  Nor entrapped by this machine,  
>  Now I am designed for killing:  
>  Taste my blades - their edge is keen!”
> 
> Forth flew MODOC, scythe-wheels turning,  
>  Riding down the monstrous hordes,  
>  There he perished, bravely hewing  
>  Formless foes with hidden swords.
> 
> At that moment the enchantment  
>  Woven by our sacred skill  
>  Reached its climax, lightning arcing  
>  Over Juno's holy hill.
> 
> Then a scream of wordless fury  
>  Rent the air with wretched sound,  
>  As Dormammu's power was banished,  
>  As his soldiers yielded ground.
> 
> As the dread one's might was broken,  
>  And to Tartarus returned,  
>  Still we looked on devastation,  
>  Still the mighty city burned.
> 
> Thus we honour those who died there,  
>  Thus we give their spirits praise,  
>  Thus I think of vanished comrades,  
>  And a fond libation raise.
> 
> For at last the brave T'Challa  
>  Went to take his father's throne;  
>  Circe like a wraith departed,  
>  To her island realm alone.
> 
> And so too the learned Druid,  
>  Sick of fire and fear in Rome,  
>  Made his way across the Channel,  
>  Back to his ancestral home.
> 
> I in turn am now departing,  
>  Seeking life for all and one,  
>  To revive the dead by magic,  
>  With the Apples of the Sun.

Two more wall paintings remain to be described. One depicts the seeress Monica boarding a ship, beyond which, in the distance, lies a headland where the Golden Apples grow. The other shows the heroes fighting creatures made of flame, in the midst of the Great Fire of Rome. A banner at the foot of this picture reads VINDICES ASSIMULENTUR: **Avengers, Assemble**! 

**Author's Note:**

> The narrative poem at the end was not planned or written in advance; I composed the entire thing in a single sitting of about 90 minutes one afternoon.
> 
> I'm pretty pleased with it, although it has three flaws which I can't really do anything about:
> 
> First, the metre changes right as Falcon makes his dying speech, and stays changed. My Watsonian explanation for this is that the original (presumably in dactylic hexameter) changes from a more Greek to a more typically Latin distribution of foot-types at that point. My Doylist explanation is that I found the shorter metre easier to write.
> 
> Second, Rhodey and Batroc deserved dying speeches too, but there wasn't time or space for them.
> 
> Thirdly, I had completely forgotten the nature of MODOC's disability; someone mute ought not really to have a dying speech. I have left it in as an example of the mythic convention of a miraculous true dying utterance.
> 
> As to the plot itself - it came together gradually. I knew I wanted to do a period piece, because I love them. And I knew (after seeing Civil War) that I wanted T'Challa to star if at all possible. The concept of a foreign prince in ancient Rome suggested Herod Agrippa in 'I, Claudius', and so I wrote an opening piece that would dovetail with the end of 'Claudius the God'. There was originally to be a subplot where a Wakandan delegation comes to Rome to tell T'Challa that his father has died and he's now king, and Nero puts them all under house arrest. This was abandoned once I hit on the 'Vindices Mortui' double-meaning title, because that meant they needed to go secret as soon as Britannicus died. And that title, in turn, suggested the ending - the Dead Avengers, or half of them at any rate, should die. They should die like fucking classical heroes. I believe 'dulce et decorum est' is bullshit, but they wouldn't. I found myself thinking of Macaulay's Horatius:
> 
> Then out spake brave Horatius,  
> The Captain of the Gate:  
> "To every man upon this earth  
> Death cometh soon or late.  
> And how can man die better  
> Than facing fearful odds,  
> For the ashes of his fathers,  
> And the temples of his Gods."
> 
> And so it was that I found myself describing the Great Fire of Rome (which had always been my intended climax) as a battle against supernatural enemies in narrative verse. (As well as Quicksilver and Vision, the other character I missed out on was Hercules, but I think it's better without him.) Dormammu as adversary was deliberately chosen to overmatch my heroes; the fiery minions were nearly Mindless Ones, but I decided instead to invent my own natives of the Dark Dimension. Speaking of which, the poem mentions Tartarus, but my headcanon is that the Dark Dimension, the saeculum atrum, is seven times further below Tartarus than Tartarus is below Hades, just as Tartarus is seven times further below Hades than Hades is below earth. Speaking of mythology, I know that in Marvel the Golden Apples are officially Idunn's, rather than the Hesperides' as they should be; Monica's voyage is going to be an interesting one. Maybe the Vanir and the Olympians are part of the same group of powerful aliens? MODOC, along with the War Machine and Falcon's flying harness, were probably absurd military tech projects dating from the reign of Caligula, when he was declaring war on Neptune and having bridges built along the roofs of Rome's temples so he could visit his 'fellow deities'. I feel I did OK in making Nero not to blame for the Great Fire, whilst also making him out to be a murderous arsehole and slightly foreshadowing his response to the fire.
> 
> Oh, and I got in an Asterix reference.


End file.
